Safari 5.1 'Broken' in OSX.6.8?

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Level 1

93 points

Safari 5.1 'Broken' in OSX.6.8?

I just installed Safari 5.1 and have found the following 'issues':

'New Window', 'Open in New Window' do not work. A window is created, but it can only be seen by selecting it fro the Window menu. Even then, 'Back' does not work, the page is slow to respond to clicks and will not accept keyboard inputs (but scrolling with the mouse works?). This also happens (as would be expected) if opening a new window by clicking on a link (from an email, etc.). Tabbed browsing appears to work 'properly' (but still cannot open a link from an email using tabbed browsing so this is only half a solution.)

Private Browsing is not possible because the warning is self dismissing (must be on auto-cancel - it flashes on the screen quyickly but no user input is possible).

I am assuming Apple will fix it soon. I am a bit disappointed that these problems were not caught beforehand.

Posted on Jul 20, 2011 1:52 PM

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Answer 1

lkrupp

Level 6

14,290 points

Jul 20, 2011 5:48 PM in response to Martin Gallo

I'm not seeing these issues at all using Safari 5.1 and OS X 10.6.8. You need to start looking at your third party extensions and plugins. Third party stuff is almost always the culprit when a new version of Safari comes out. Happens all the time. Start by turning off extensions in Safari preferences. There are other posts around mentioning specific third party extensions that are causing problems. Do some reading and searching. Try helping yourself.

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Answer 2

Martin Gallo Author

Level 1

93 points

Jul 20, 2011 7:56 PM in response to Martin Gallo

I have no Safari extensions (they are so much trouble). Turning Extensions off did not resolve the problems, but I appreciate the advice.

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Answer 3

Purd

Level 1

102 points

Jul 20, 2011 8:43 PM in response to Martin Gallo

Also have problem with Safari 5.1 on OSX 10.6.8.

When I click History-Clear History, the dialog box just appeared momentarily and close itself. I cannot clear history list. The same problem with Empty Cache, when I click to Empty Cache, the dialog box appeared momentarily and close, I cannot clear cache in Safari as before!

Again Safari is broken! Help please!

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Answer 4

epwgd

Level 1

0 points

Jul 21, 2011 5:02 AM in response to Martin Gallo

I updated to Safari 5.1 (without any extensions installed) on 10.6.8 on my MBP '08. "Clear History" does not re-set the purple "visited" hyperlink to a blue "unvisited" hyperlink, so I'm not sure if the History is actually being cleared. I've been through the new Safari Preferences, and I don't think I've overlooked any History-related settings.

Resetting Safari didn't address the issue, but re-starting Safari did.

I've already submitted a "Report bugs to Apple..." since, as a web site developer, I need this functionality to work properly (i.e., without re-starting Safari every time I need to test visited/unvisited hyperlinks). I haven't had a chance to test the "Clear Cache" functionality yet.

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Answer 5

Martin Gallo Author

Level 1

93 points

Jul 21, 2011 7:32 AM in response to lkrupp

Speaking of helping myself, I downloaded the Safari 5.1 installer and re-installed. This fixed nothing that I can see.

I also note that iTunes no longer has the ability to download all updates - The button is there and pressing it causes activity in iTunes but no downloads. I suspect WebKit is 'broken' or at least 'to blame' for my issues.

Does anybody have any advice on how to quickly reinstall Webkit or to deprecate Safari back to a useful version?

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Answer 6

Jul 21, 2011 8:18 AM in response to Martin Gallo

Issues found here:

Support foe OnePassword gone

Support for Websnapper gone

Rest Safari doesn't work

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Answer 7

blue439

Level 1

0 points

Jul 21, 2011 9:10 AM in response to Martin Gallo

I think Web Snapper may be the culprit. I used the WebSnapperPluginUninstaller (available from the TastyApps website), reinstalled Safari, and the problem vanished.

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Answer 8

Martin Gallo Author

Level 1

93 points

Jul 21, 2011 10:00 AM in response to blue439

I do not have WebSnapper installed. I deleted all plug-ins (and I have no extensions) and all the reported problems persist.

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Answer 9

blue439

Level 1

0 points

Jul 21, 2011 10:29 AM in response to Martin Gallo

Hmm... I can only suggest you snoop around in the Library > Application Support folder and see if there are any old SIMBL plugins installed. Any prior attempts to extend Safari using a pre-extension architecture seem to fail with 5.1.

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Answer 10

Martin Gallo Author

Level 1

93 points

Jul 21, 2011 11:05 AM in response to blue439

Actually, it turned out to be Quartz Composer.webplugin as the culprit.

I somehow managed to fail to delete it the first two attempts!

I do not know what it is supposed to do, but it sure does muck up Safari 5.1.

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Answer 11

epwgd

Level 1

0 points

Jul 21, 2011 3:21 PM in response to epwgd

Removing the Quartz Composer.webplugin had no discernible effect. It still appears that the history is cleared, but the hyperlinks are still displayed as "visited" (i.e., purple text). Can anyone else confirm this behavior? TIA

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Answer 12

Martin Gallo Author

Level 1

93 points

Jul 21, 2011 7:42 PM in response to epwgd

I confirm the behavior in 5.1. It appears to work properly in 5.0.5.

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Answer 13

epwgd

Level 1

0 points

Jul 22, 2011 8:45 AM in response to Martin Gallo

Thanks for confirming, Martin! Hopefully, Apple will address this soon.

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Answer 14

Jul 25, 2011 11:50 AM in response to Martin Gallo

Removed Quartz Composer.webplugin, restarted computer and Safari 5.1 still experiencing most or all of the problems mentioned here. I teach graduate level web dev classes and this is very frustrating - I count on all my browsers to work properly!! Any other fix suggestions are appreciated.

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Answer 15

Martin Gallo Author

Level 1

93 points

Jul 27, 2011 12:43 PM in response to sconnell2

Sorry to hear of your troubles. All I did was delete the plugin and restart Safari - no need to reboot the computer.

From reading other forums, the problems appear to be 'random' with some plugins affecting only some people. For example, I have no problems opening pdfs in Safari, yet Adobe has a notice of non-functionality on its Reader plugin page.

Best wishes.

Marty

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